Inground pool leak.

Stumann666

New member
Sep 18, 2023
2
St. Louis, Mo.
We're draining our 30,000 gal pool due to a leak that, in years past, was always the hydrostatic valve. After draining it today, I'm seeing trails of water along the edge where the "tile" meets the gunite. IS this a common place for a leak? We've had this pool for almost 30 years and never had a problem there. I'm just wondering if it looks like that because my wife as cleaning that area with some bleach, a broom, and the hose. I'm hoping I don't have to caulk that whole area. I'm getting too old for this "Stuff".
 

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Welcome to TFP.

Is that wall surface tile or fiberglass?

With that type of old pool design any joint can be the source of a leak. I also see vertical joints between the "tiles" that look like they need sealing.

I think sealing and resealing joints periodically come with having that type of pool.

Have you considered dropping a liner into the pool?
 
The tile surface is actually fiberglass. A have all the paper work from when the pool was built, and it looks like the "tile" is just a facade. The actual gunite is probably 6" thick behind it and is all part of the orginal poor. I'm hoping the streaks of water are just from the figerglass fake tile no longer being stuck to the wall comletely and allowing water to get in between. Next season will tell.
 
That pool looks a lot like a hybrid pool - cement base with fiberglass walls. The FG wall panels are sealed to each other and the floor using rubber seals. They eventually degrade and fail and need to be replaced. Hybrid pools were very common in your area 30-40 years ago but the industry has largely abandoned that type of pool design in favor of monolithic FG shells, vinyl liner pools, and/or gunite pools. There are almost no installers that work on them anymore.

 
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